Please enjoy a new story, brought to you by daisukibear, author of Unspoken Love :) The next chapter will definitely be long, don't worry! And also I'll probably alternate between Unspoken Love and this :)

Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 1

I hadn't always wanted to become a Knight.

The idea of a Knight had always struck me as outrageous. Contrary to its name, Knights are not the typical knights in shining armor you would imagine. I would call them Human Shields, Slaves, Underdogs, Scapegoats, Puppets, but not a name as heroic as a Knight should sound. But what would my opinion matter in this world?

It has been a tradition in this country for all the powerful to be attached to a knight. Some people have them as early as they were born, though some people whom 'accidentally' get famous have them later. The masters were usually famous or important figures around, and most of them have a unique ability called an Alice. Knights usually come from the same lineage-so you have a whole family of them, and these noble lineages meant that they get paired up with the same family of Alices for generations running. Usually, people waited for the Alices themselves to handpick their knights, for after the oath, they would be eternally bound to each other, so you would want to befriend your knight. But a knight and master relationship can never be severed.

Unless one of them dies.

Even with its grand title and name like "Knight", most people just use Knights as tools to get what they wanted. There is this whole rule book given out to Knights in Knight Training School, and in there contains all the expected behaviour and rules in a knight and master bond. A knight should never disobey their master's orders. A knight should never do more than what is ordered. A Knight sees through the completion of the order with his life. Basically, it is a book full of boundaries and 'should nevers' with the person you have to spend tagging along for the rest of your life, whether you like it or not. In order to graduate from Knight Training School, you have to have memorized all 100 rules, in exact order and phrasing. Eerily, there was only one rule in the book that is printed in red.

A Knight should never fall in love with their Master.

I suspect that the rule book was written by a drunkard, because from around rule 40 onwards it was things like "A Knight should never be seen in their undergarments." Under what circumstances will that ever happen anyway? Amongst us Knights, we all knew the most important laws were just the first few pages. Over the years though, some rules have been modified and the allowance for certain exceptions arose.

There is a book of laws, but no book of punishments. And that is why I call this Knight system a pretty screwed up one. The only form of punishment, and heaviest one a Knight will receive is probably only 2 things.

Shame.

And Guilt.

Because we are trained to guard them with our lives, to risk everything we have to protect someone who probably does not even consider us as real humans- when their Masters die, most Knights are expected to die along with them in a war of inner shame and guilt of failure.

Most of them.

Knights in this world are not like those on the black and white chessboard, the carved horse-shaped ones with a hooked snout that move in a weirdly shaped "L". They are more like the little line of pawns standing in front, only going straight because there is no turning back for them and they are just mere sacrifices that can be easily replaced.

I hadn't always wanted to be a Knight.

Rather, I made myself into one.

The Training School only had a handful of female Knight Apprentices. I applied for the Training School which had only one other female Knight in there at that time. By the time the Knight Apprentices were supposed to graduate, I had already become a famous figure in the country. My uncanny agility and skillfulness in martial arts had earned me top honors and the school allowed me to skip two grades ahead of the supposed graduation age of 17.

I didn't become a Knight to serve or save anyone.

Or rather, I became a Knight because of someone I couldn't save.

I knew that there was nothing I could do under that situation, which I could hardly recall, as a defenseless crying 1-year-old. But the misery and pain in me, it stung like the arrow that I watched pierced through my mother like she was made of paper and it cut her open like it slit through my heart. And they only told me how my father had died in that shower of arrows and spattering of blood.

He was abandoned by his Knight, who had lived, who is still somewhere, who is still breathing the air of the world that he was not supposed to be in anymore. Knowing that story only clouded me with who, maybe, can, could and what ifs. I still remember flashes of what he looks like-which sickens me because it just tells me that we were probably close. Maybe he carried me around and acted like my babysitter, maybe he fed me my snacks or held my hand. Maybe he is regretting it somewhere, in that hiding hole of his while my parents lay three feet under.

But it was too late, because my father was gone. It matters not that he passed on, but it was that his Knight still lived on when it could be the other way round.

So I worked my ass off to become a Knight who would in no way, ever end up like him.

I'm afraid my backstory would have to be abruptly cut short.

First off, I had to run.

Today marks the first step for me-enrollment into Gakuen Alice, the school for both Alices and their Knights. After age 17 (usually) is when a Knight would seal themselves with their Masters, beginning the bond, and going through a period of attachment in this school with them. Basically, this is where a Knight is assigned to their Master, or chosen by them, for life.

For the record, I was supposed to be on time. I left the house about 2 minutes earlier than the expected travel time. But when I turned into my favourite short-cut, my view was blocked by about ten men, all adults, and a teenage boy standing in the center of them. I couldn't see him, because the men were all blocking my view, and I was not very tall to begin with. All I could see was his raven head. I immediately turned to leave, sulking because walking around this place may take more than 2 minutes and that meant I would have to maybe sprint my way into the school. But then I heard them say something.

"Well well, where's your Knight?" One of the men laughed, and the rest of the gang burst into peals of evil laughter.

Had the people who murdered my parents said the very same thing to them before they shot through them and crushed them like bugs?

Before I knew it, my mouth and body had already moved on its own. I honestly didn't know what came over my brain at the moment-the laziness of taking the long route, or the memory of that sentence and how it shattered me.

"Hey, 10 on 1 is a bit unfair. Besides, you're blocking my way. Mind taking this elsewhere? I am kinda late." This time, the whole group turned, even the raven headed guy. There was a moment of silence as they rolled their eyes in silence, even the raven boy, and to think that I was offering my assistance here.

"She's wearing a Knight Apprentice Tag!" One of them pointed at the silver bracelet on my right arm and laughed.

My watch told me I was already late, so I decided to go about doing my job swiftly and without a hassle. I did a jump and a slight twirl to dodge one of their punches, making them collide into each other. I did a backthrow on another, and then pow! When I was done, all the raven boy did was lift an eyebrow at me.

That was when I saw that he had a pair of hauntingly breathtaking eyes-they were red. Not just red red, but red like fire, and it feels like it would actually change colour if you kept staring into it. One moment it was blood red, the other it was scarlet.

His beautiful eyes, unfortunately, did not complement his personality.

He cocked his head to the side and threw me off with a nonchalant remark. "I didn't actually need your help, or ask for it." I could feel his eyes following my movement.

"You're welcome," I spat and made a move on. Some people were so ungrateful. I didn't do it for him anyway.

If I started running now, would I make it? I did not want to be Mikan Sakura the latecomer for the rest of my life at Gakuen Alice. It was common sense for the incoming Knights in Training to maintain their decorum and be presentable to build up a good impression from the pool of Masters. It was like a prize lottery-you have to package the prize for anyone to be even interested in it. If only I looked back at the raven boy and saw he was actually holding in his hand.

Which brings me back to my current fate.

1 minute to the ceremony and I am still out here, right outside the school. It is so close, yet so far away, for the guards will not let me in.

"I am a Knight!" I have already repeated myself time and time again.

"You are a girl," Their mouths replied stupidly.

"Nobody said girls cannot be Knights!"

"You don't have an identification."

"I do!" I hold out my wrist in protest and waited for the familiar little clang the bracelet made when you moved your arm. But it was silent.

There was nothing on my right arm. I checked my left, and it was the same silence.

I could already picture Hotaru and her ballistic yelling in my face as she tapped her foot impatiently at the entrance ceremony. I started to seriously consider knocking them out or jumping over the fence. But that would be trespassing, and the fence was probably equipped with electric currents that would zap me out of my wits.

But I heard a familiar voice from behind me. "Looking for this?"

Something silver landed into my hands and made a soft chime.

My Knight Apprentice bracelet!

I shoved it under the noses of those pesky guards, almost yelling "I really am a Knight, you fools!" until I realised they all had their heads bowed down low. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned back to see rude raven boy standing right beside me. "Welcome back, Natsume-sama." The guards chorused in unison.

"Hurry up and let her in already."

And it was all it took for him to open the gates of Gakuen Alice, one of the schools with the strictest security around. I was about to start complaining in frustration-if only he had come earlier-but he was already pulling me into the Academy.

I did not even have the time to ask him what the hell he was doing when he shoved me into a grand hall where hundreds of people stood, and I must have picked a really wrong timing and way to enter, because 1) The hall was so silent and solemn, I figured out it was where the Entrance Ceremony was held 2) I only realised that after I practically crashed through the doors with raven boy still dragging me along like a sack 3) I have already gained the worst first impression any Knight can get from the Alices, for everyone, even the paintings on the walls, had their eyes on me.

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